Diabetic Neuropathy Treatment in Apple Valley - Saint Paul, MN

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 29 million people in the United States have diabetes, which requires a strict diet to manage blood sugar and prevent serious health complications.

If your diabetes is causing pain or tingling in your arms, abdomen, back, or feet, you may have diabetic neuropathy. This condition is a common but serious complication of diabetes that occurs from long-term high blood sugar levels damaging your nerves.

What Are the Symptoms of Diabetic Neuropathy?

If you’re a diabetic neuropathy patient you may have only one type or you may have multiple types of the condition, which develop slowly over time, and which you may not be conscious of until significant damage has been done.

Peripheral

This type of neuropathy affects your legs and feet, and rarely affects your arms, abdomen, or back. Symptoms include physical sensations like tingling, pain, burning (especially in the evening), and numbness that may become permanent.

Autonomic

This neuropathy affects nerves in the autonomous system which controls your stomach, intestines, heart, bladder, lungs, eyes, and sex organs.

Radiculoplexus

This type affects the nerves in your legs, thighs, hips, or buttocks and is more common in people with type 2 diabetes and older adults.

Symptoms usually begin on one side of the body and include:

sudden, intense pain in the leg, hip, thigh, or buttock

weak and atrophied thigh muscle

difficulty standing up from a sitting position

swollen abdomen (if that area is affected)

unexplained weight loss

Most patients recover at least partially from their symptoms over time, though symptoms often worsen before improving.

Focal

Focal diabetic neuropathy is more common in older adults and occurs suddenly. This type involves damage to a specific nerve in your face, abdomen, or leg; it can also occur if a nerve gets compressed, especially in the hand (carpal tunnel).

Symptoms include:

pain behind one eye

double vision

difficulty focusing your vision

paralysis on one side of your face (Bell’s palsy)

foot pain, as well as pain in your shin, lower back, pelvis, thigh, abdomen, or chest

Though this condition can cause severe pain, it generally doesn’t present long-term problems. Symptoms can improve or intensify over weeks and months, depending on which nerve is affected.

What Causes Diabetic Neuropathy?

When your blood sugar levels are too high for too long, the overabundance of glucose can injure your body’s nerve fibers, resulting in tingling, numbness, and pain.

Diabetic Neuropathy Complications

A common complication of diabetic neuropathy is limb loss from amputation. Reduced blood flow from diabetes causes nerve damage in your feet, making it difficult to notice cuts, sores, and injuries that occur there. If these injuries become severely infected, the infection can spread to your bone or cause gangrene (tissue death).

increased or decreased sweating:damage to your sweat glands from autonomic neuropathy can cause a potentially life-threatening lack of perspiration or excessive sweating (especially at night or while eating)

antidepressants: amitriptyline, desipramine, and imipramine may relieve mild or moderate symptoms, but can cause side effects like dry mouth, sweating, and constipation; duloxetine can relieve pain with fewer side effects, but can cause nausea, sleepiness, and dizziness

opioids: pregabalin, and tapentadol have high risk of addiction

acupuncture: by stimulating pressure points in the nervous system acu needles release endorphins (natural painkillers) in brain, spine, and muscles